Abstract
This paper examines how irony and satire are at the heart of W. H. Auden's poem, "The Unknown Citizen", which is about a man who remains unnamed throughout the entire poem. It discusses how this unnamed citizen, however, represents the society that we live in and the modern men and women who have come to live by society's terms. Through tone and content, it also demonstrates how Auden is able to illustrate the cost of losing one's own identity.

From the Paper
"To emphasize the image of a man living a very ordinary life, Auden gives us more details that relate the individual to his or her place in society. For example, we are told he served the "greater Community/except for the War till the day he retired" (6, 7). He was a also factory worker, he pleased his bosses, and paid his dues--all of these facts paint the picture of someone who lived an ordinary life. In addition, Auden includes that the man "wasn't a scab or odd in his views" (10) and he "added five children to the population, which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation" (27-29). We don't get the impression that he was unique, for even where there was "peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went" (25, 26). All of these images depict a man that is formed by the society that surrounds him."

Tags:societal, systems, identity, life

Abstract
This paper discusses Auden's poem "Musee de Beaux Arts", which presents the idea that Breughel's work depicted everyday events but in the corner of the painting is a small depiction of human suffering such as the crucifixion of Jesus. The author asks "What can any one man do to make a difference in the face of human tragedy?" and states that Auden's answer would be: Tell the tale, paint the picture, write the poem describing the human suffering to rouse others to consciousness and involvement.

From the Paper
"The first painting, Auden passes,, depicts an example of 'human position" of suffering, a moment of pain, which also is a moment of glory: The birth of Christ. While a woman struggles in labor, the old men, indifferent to her suffering, 'reverently, passionately (await)" (line 6) the product of her labor, and children already born, "who did not specially want it to happen" (lines 7-8) go on with their play, "skating on a pond at the edge of the wood" (lines 8-9)."

Tags:everyday, events, corner, small, depiction, jesus, human, tragedy, consciousness, involvement

Abstract
This writer wrote the paper from the perspective that each reader has their own image of what an unknown citizen looks like. The writer brought in a personal account of his grandfather and how he lived a modern man's life, but when he died, he didn't know what he felt about his life. The writer also takes the point of view that he didn't want a life that was mundane--he answered the questions on tone, image, narrative and psychological implications as well.

From the Paper
"The "The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden is my favorite of the five poems. I have at times an unhealthy desire to be someone or something other than the get up, go to bed person I am. I believe the grass is almost always greener on the other side of the fence because I believe change is a good thing--it helps us to grow as people and gives us the opportunity to evolve as better people. This is of course where free will and freedom to choose comes in. If you are forced to move, fired from a job, have your girlfriend break up with you, you have a choice as to how you are going to react to the situation. The unknown citizen chose no existence where I..."

Tags:mundane, silent, happy

From the Paper
"Poets draw upon life experiences and intellectual influences in developing their work, with some such influences being conscious and others unconscious but perceptible. W.H. Auden was a very conscious poet, a theorist as well as a poet, and one who understood the influences shaping his poetry and who made deliberate use of them to convey his themes and emotional impact. An examination of Auden's poetry and his theories of poetry shows that he was influenced by strong intellectual currents of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and that he consciously used the fact and power of ideology as he made use of the developing existentialism of S?ren Kierkegaard and the social and political writings of Marx and other Communist thinkers to convey his particular notions of order.

In a famous lecture on poetry delivered by Auden at Oxford, ... "

Abstract
This essay examines Auden's poem, focusing on the ballad like quality of the lines and the images that resemble a fairytale. Part ballad, part nursery rhyme, part lullaby, the shape of the poem soothes and entices the reader, while the content draws one into a world of devastation, death, and betrayal. Auden's fluid mix of styles are mentioned as well as poetry's ability to give pleasure and comfort.

From the Paper
"The poem takes the shape of a ballad. The normal ballad stanza has 4 beats in the first line, 3 in the second, 4 in the third, and 3 in the fourth, and lines 2 and 4 rhyme. Auden uses a variant in which lines one and three have only 3 beats, instead of 4. But like all ballads, this poem sounds like a song (and, in fact, it has been set to music by composer Elizabeth Lutyens"

Tags:rhyme, ballad, images, style, lyric, romantic, nursery, lullaby, death, darkness

Abstract
This paper argues that, in writing "Musee des Beaux Arts." Auden, chose to write about the painting because it captures one of his central themes of the suffering and unfeeling attitude in everyday life. By analyzing "Musee des Beaux Arts," we can see how Auden uses imagery, language, and the classical theme of the fall of Icarus not only to communicate his theme, but to discuss Brueghel's painting.

From the Paper
"Auden's use of the Icarus image and of the work of Old Master Brueghel show classical style, but the poetic form of "Musee" is not classical. He uses two unequal stanzas and a varied rhyme pattern that was uncommon in his era. He opens the poem with a reference to the Old Dutch Master painters of the 16th century, of which Bruegel was a member: "About suffering they were never wrong, / The Old Masters: how well they understood / Its human position..." "

Tags:Eliot, Ezra, Pound, Brueghel

Abstract
Dylan's "The Times they are a Changing", Hughes' "Harlem: A Dream Deferred", and Auden's "The Unknown Citizen", all investigate the themes of human goals and the impact of society upon these goals. This paper explains how Hughes's poem provides an analysis of how the deferment of life goals by society can result in great destruction to both the individual and society. It then shows how Auden's poem also looks at the loss of life goals, this time through the overarching control of a mechanized, soulless state and conformity. In contrast, Dylan's lyrics provide hope for the realization of dreams and hopes through social change.

From the Paper
"In his poem, "Harlem: A Dream Deferred", Langston Hughes investigates the theme of the destructive impact of deferring dreams. In his first sentence, Hughes sets up a rhetorical question, "What happens to a dream deferred?", and then sets about determining the effect of life goals that are delayed or put off. Clearly, Hughes wants to impart the idea that any life goal that is delayed gives a negative outcome. Further, his inclusion of the word Harlem in the title is indicative that the poem reflects the destruction of life goals in the African American community that is symbolized by Harlem itself. Hughes' poem describes the effect of life goals that must be put off until society changes, and laws and institutions are ready to accept African Americans. Until the time that an African American's goals can be fulfilled, Hughes' lists several alternative possibilities for the reactions of African Americans."

Tags:human, goals, society

Abstract
This paper looks at both the structure and thematic content of Auden's poem and matches it against the sonnet template. The author then makes the case that Auden's poem, ostensibly a free verse piece, meets much of the criteria of a traditional sonnet.

From the Paper
"If one were to sample from the world of the sonnet, one would encounter rhyme and recognizable structure. While the structure might vary-from the English form, with its three quatrains and closing couplet, to the Italian sonnet, with its rima biaciata-ordered octave and concluding sestet,-the reader would experience iambic pentameter organized into fourteen lines, each line's closing contributing to the poem's definable rhyming sequence. Even the heroic sonnet with its rebellious extra quatrain would still conform to this strict poetic structure, including the "turn" explained by Paul Fussell as "a logical or emotional shift by which the speaker enables himself to take a new or altered or enlarged view of his subject" (116). W.H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts," with its thirteen-line first stanza and eight-line second, does not fulfil either the sonnet's line requirements or its rhyme constraints; both its end rhymes and meter, while present, are chaotic in nature (Auden, 2505) ."

Tags:ekphrasia, ekphrasic, meter, petrachan, quatrain, sestet

Abstract
This paper analyzes the poem "September 1, 1939," by W.H. Auden, and asserts that the poem can be read as a critique of modern politics. The paper explains that Auden describes the feelings, anxieties, and general social situation of the world, as he sees it, surrounding the date of September 1, 1939 -- the date when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, marking the outbreak of the Second World War. The paper also discusses the author's description of the social and individual pathology that brought about the war, lending a psychoanalytic undertone and claiming that modern politics were to blame for this conflict. The paper concludes that through his criticism of modern politics and ideologies as the cause of the war, Auden was able to efficiently convey the message that, although evil will always exist, society remains interconnected and that the unconditional love of others (agape) is the only hope for survival.

From the Paper
"Auden claims that the Americans are ignorant (hence, "blind") of the fact that they too suffer from the problems that occur in Europe. The skyscrapers warn of the danger as they are built with the "strength of Collective Man," the very same idea that is central to the ideologies of the European dictators of the time--both fascist and communist."

Tags:Auden, 1939, September, WWII, Modern, Poetry

Abstract
In this article, the writer examines what constitutes a good, just citizen, using Sophocles' 'Philoctetes' and W.H. Auden's "The Unknown Citizen" as sources. The characters of Philoctetes, Odysseus, Neoloptemus, and the unknown citizen are evaluated as to their suitability to represent the just, good, citizen, and Neoloptemus is selected as the optimal candidate of the four.

From the Paper
"This research paper will address the issue of citizenship in both Sophocles' play 'Philoctetes' and W H Auden's poem 'The Unknown Citizen'. The paper will examine the difference between virtue as a function of performing one's socially defined task and that of virtue as indicative of ethical values such as honesty trust and compassion. A review of Athenian society at the time that the play was written and that society's values in terms of citizenship will be included as part of ..."

Tags:Philoctetes, Sophocles, Auden, The Unknown Citizen, play, poem, citizenship, everyman